Assistant to artist found place for sycophantic hanger-on (8)

I believe the answer is:

parasite

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'sycophantic hanger-on' is the definition.
'parasite' can be an answer for 'hanger-on' (I've seen this before). I'm unsure of the 'sycophantic' bit.

'assistant to artist found place' is the wordplay.
'assistant' becomes 'PA' (personal assistant).
'to artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'found' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'place' becomes 'site' (synonyms).
'pa'+'ra'+'site'='PARASITE'

'for' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for parasite that I've seen before include "Possibly tick" , "host has to put up with" , "Organism living off another" , "sponge" , "unwanted guest" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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